Bill no. 1109 on the judicial reserve and amending various provisions relating to the appointment of magistrates to administrative bodies

Bill no. 1109 on the judicial reserve and amending various provisions on the appointment of magistrates to administrative bodies (2025-05, 6 June 2025) was tabled and referred to the Legislation Committee on 18 June 2025.

* * *

SUMMARY

The Evaluation Report of the MONEYVAL Committee (Immediate Outcome 7 (Investigation and prosecution of money laundering), point b), p. 51) recommended "taking measures to ensure that money laundering investigations progress more quickly, including increasing the resources dedicated to the Public Prosecutor and investigating judges, including the recruitment of judicial staff".

Bill no. 1109 aims in this vein "to provide an operational response to the FATF's recommendations, by providing a legal basis for strengthening the staffing of the courts and other entities called upon to contribute to the fight against money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and corruption" (Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill):

• Creation of a judicial reserve made up of former magistrates to supplement the trial panels and provide support to career magistrates in activity - Note: the review undertaken by the Judicial Services Department to meet the need to increase staffing levels has envisaged another route to the judiciary, in addition to that provided for by the current 2009 statute for the competitive recruitment of referendary magistrates: direct integration into the judiciary for Monegasque nationals destined to become career magistrates. This aspect has been suspended to allow further consideration (Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill).
• To respond to the difficulties encountered in appointing the head of the sanction panel of the Monegasque Financial Security Authority (AMSF) and to prevent those that could concern the head of the Seized and Confiscated Assets Management Service.

* * *

IN DETAIL

→ Rules applicable to reservist magistrates: insertion of new articles 64-1 to 64-15 in Law no. 1.364 of 16 November 2009 on the status of magistrates, as amended:

• Purpose of recruiting reservist magistrates: to carry out activities of a judicial or administrative nature, as part of a temporary reinforcement of the staff, as required, of the Judicial Services Department and the departments attached to it, the Justice of the Peace, the Court of First Instance, the Court of Appeal, the Criminal Court or the Public Prosecutor's Office (excluding the Supreme Court and the Court of Revision).
  
• Requirements: Monegasque or French nationality; retired or resigned; at least 15 years' experience as a magistrate; enjoyment of civil and political rights; good character; age limit 77.
• Obligation to take an oath before performing duties, when first entered on the list.
• Entry on the list of reservist magistrates: by order of the Director of Judicial Services ("Directeur des Services Judiciaires" equivalent to the Minister of Justice), for a renewable period of 3 years.
• Assignments: during this period, reservists may be successively entrusted with various assignments within the Judicial Services Department, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the courts, without however having to deal with cases that they would have had to deal with in the context of their previous duties and without being able, without their consent, to receive a new assignment when they carry out duties at the court. They may be offered administrative assignments (chairing or sitting on an administrative commission or an independent administrative authority whose composition requires the presence of magistrates) or judicial assignments (without being able to chair a panel of judges and, in the public prosecutor's department, sitting as the public prosecutor at hearings before the Court of Revision and the Supreme Court). The majority of reservist magistrates may sit on a panel and perform the duties of examining magistrate, guardianship judge, substitute guardianship judge and judge of freedoms.
• Limit on working time: in principle, 180 half-days per calendar year; with the possibility of modulation by order of the Director of Judicial Services to respond to specific situations relating to the organisation and operation of the courts. "This may involve, for example, taking into account the referral of cases to the report of a reservist magistrate, the handling of particularly heavy and complex cases or ensuring the replacement of magistrates" (Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill).
• Reservist magistrate contract: specifies in particular its effective date, duration, the nature of the assignments entrusted, the terms and conditions of the assignment, the method of remuneration for the assignments carried out and the reasons for and conditions of its termination.
• Compensation scheme: reimbursement of expenses inherent in the assignment under conditions defined by order of the Director of Judicial Services; fixed amount, corresponding for each half-day, to an amount equal to 1/60th of the monthly salary of a magistrate in the first grade, last step, increased, depending on the assignments carried out, by a percentage defined by order of the Director of Judicial Services.
• Ethical obligations: reservist magistrates may engage in gainful employment, whether professional or salaried, at the same time as performing their judicial or administrative duties, provided that this activity is not such as to be detrimental to the dignity of their office and their independence, and is not incompatible with the service obligations they are required to perform as reserve magistrates. They may not hold interests that may compromise their independence in relation to litigants. Furthermore, reserve magistrates may not simultaneously hold any of the offices referred to in article 9 of Law no. 1.364 (member of the Parliament, member of the town council, member of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, elective office of a political nature in Monaco or abroad) or any public office in Monaco.
• Disciplinary procedure and sanctions that may be imposed on reservist magistrates.

→ Amendment of certain provisions of Law no. 1.398 of 24 June 2013 on judicial administration and organisation, as amended

• Clarification of the conditions under which reservist magistrates take part in deliberations, together with magistrates.
• The conditions for appointing the Director of the Seized and Confiscated Assets Management Department have been made more flexible: the Director may be a serving member of the judiciary, a reservist magustrate or a member of the judiciary who has been struck off the bench due to retirement or resignation.

→ Amendment to Law no. 1.362 of 3 August 2009 on the fight against money laundering, terrorist an proliferation of weapons of mass destruction financing and corruption, as amended

• Composition of the sanction panel of the Monegasque Financial Security Authority (AMSF): it may be composed of reservist magistrates, alongside magistrates, civil servants and agents of the department.
• Appointment of the chairman of the sanction panel: in response to a difficulty in appointing the chairman of the sanction panel, it would be stipulated that the person called upon to exercise this function must have at least 5 years' judicial experience as a magistrate, acquired in Monaco or France (no longer only in the Monegasque judicial system).

* * *